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Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Who had this thought growing up?


After school shooting, sheriff gives Second Amendment defense that would make Founding Fathers proud

After a 15-year-old student opened fire at a high school near Spokane, Washington, earlier this week, the Spokane County Sheriff gave a defense of the Second Amendment that would make the Founding Fathers proud.
What did he say?

During a lengthy press conference on Thursday, Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich explained in no uncertain terms that he believes a breakdown in society helped the teenage student execute his rampage, which took the life of one person and injured three others. It wasn’t the gun, the sheriff explained while defending the Second Amendment.

“I can tell you, folks, I carried a gun all my life. I hunted, I shot. My friends and I…It’s huntin’ season back home. When I was in high school, every one of those rigs in the high school parking lot had a gun in the gun rack. Why? We went huntin’ on the way home. None of those guns ever walked into a school. None of those guns ever shot anybody. What’s the difference? Did the gun change? Or did you, as a society, change? I’ll give ya odds that it was you as a society, because you started glorifying cultures of violence. You glorified the gang culture, you glorified games that actually give you points for raping and killing people. The gun didn’t change, we changed.”

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71st Salisbury Jaycees Christmas Parade (Entries Now Open)

71st Salisbury Jaycees Christmas Parade

Sunday, December 3rd, 2017 at 2pm

Hosted for 71 years by your Salisbury Jaycees Volunteers
Lineup: Civic Ave in the old mall parking lot - 1pm
Staging: Enter Civic Ave. from the South End ONLY (near the Civic Center)
Starts: 2pm step off from Civic Ave & Mt. Hermon Road
Watch the parade: from East Main Street & Mt. Hermon Road
Judges Stand: East Main Street at public works fountain in the City Park
End: East Main and Ward Street after Wi-Middle
More Information can be found HERE

Here are some of the most ridiculous things government spent money on last year

Hurricane Irma is projected to make landfall in south Florida, and Miami is unprepared, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. With Texas still recovering from Tropical Storm Harvey and Florida preparing for Irma, it may be the worst possible moment for FEMA to be running out of funds. FEMA had only $1.01 billion on hand Tuesday morning and is expected to be out of money by Friday, Bloomberg reported.

Where did all the money go? On Wednesday’s “The Glenn Beck Radio Program,” Glenn Beck listed some of the most absurd examples of government spending. Miami hasn’t been hit with a hurricane this deadly in decades, and the area’s flood control system badly needs to be updated.

“Our government has blown through hundreds of billions of dollars of wasteful spending that could have been applied to preparation for Miami,” Glenn said.

In 2016, the government used money to study TV bingewatching, comedy clubs, monkey drool and hamster fights. Half a billion was spent on a radio and TV station in Miami that attempted to broadcast into Cuba even though the country’s communist leadership was blocking the signal.

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TIP SHEET ON THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES FOR GOVERNOR

It’s after Labor Day, and two more Democratic candidates for governor are formally joining the race this week: Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz gets in Monday, with a rally in front of the county courthouse in Towson, and former Obama administration official Krishanti Vignarajah enters Tuesday, with an appearance at her childhood home in Baltimore.

So it seems like a good time to size up the seven-candidate Democratic field.

What’s noteworthy about this race is how there isn’t a true frontrunner. Most election cycles, one Democrat seems way ahead – or has been pre-selected by party leaders, or both.

By the normal metrics of Maryland politics, Kamenetz and Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker should be the favorites for the Democratic nomination. They’re veteran officeholders in large, important jurisdictions, with solid records, good stories to tell, and a lifetime of relationships with party elders.

But let’s face it: They aren’t all that well known – even to party activists, let alone to average voters. When it comes to laying the groundwork for a statewide campaign, each has traveled the state some – but far less, it seems, than most successful gubernatorial contenders have at similar stages of past elections. Each county executive has flaws and skeptics – and critics at home.

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Allies al-Qaeda, Taliban Stronger Despite 6,786 U.S. Military Fatalities, 52,570 Injuries Since 9/11

Al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban, the jihadi allies responsible for the September 11, 2001, attacks on the American homeland, have grown stronger in the last 16 years despite the thousands of U.S. military casualties from the ongoing fight against the terrorist groups.

In the 16 years since 9/11, the Pentagon reports that at least 6,786 U.S. service members have paid the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan, primarily while fighting al-Qaeda and the Taliban in response to the September 11 attacks that killed 3,000 Americans and wounded an estimated 6,000 others.

Terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan have also maimed at least 52,570 American service members and killed an estimated 21 Pentagon civilians.

Among the thousands of American troops killed since 9/11, Breitbart News included the 44 fatalities and 53 injuries from the ongoing efforts in Iraq and Syria to annihilate the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), formerly known as al-Qaeda in Iraq.

The majority of U.S. military fatalities took place during the war in Iraq between March 19, 2003, and the end of 2011, when the authority allowing the American forces to remain in Iraq expired.

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“Car Repo Standoff” Ends After Five Hours in Hobby Lobby Parking Lot


On Friday, September 15th, 2017 at approximately 1:45 p.m. SIA Towing of Lanham MD, attempted to repossess a vehicle.

SIA towing received repossession paperwork. Tow truck driver Toby was dispatched to the Hobby Lobby parking lot, after GPS tracking had located the vehicle. Toby located the Lexus in the parking lot, and lifted the car onto his tow truck. While attempting to secure the vehicle, an unidentified driver made contact with Toby. The Lexus driver requested to get “some personal items” out of the vehicle, and Toby allowed her to enter the car. Once in the Lexus, the driver refused to exit the vehicle. Toby contacted law enforcement, and they responded to the scene. Police advised Toby this issue was a civil matter since no crimes were committed. While deputies were on the scene Toby attempted to hookup the front tires, and the driver turned on the car and moved the front wheels, potentially endangering Toby. Police informed the driver she was not allowed to endanger him or damage his equipment. The Lexus driver allowed Toby to finish securing the vehicle, while she remained in the driver seat. Deputies left the scene, and advised Toby to call back if there was a crime committed.

Toby told the police and Driver “I have a full tank of gas and air conditioning, I can be here all weekend.”


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JUST IN: Dollar General In Salisbury Robbed

SPD is investigating an armed robbery that just ocurred at the Dollar General 13/n, susp displayed a weapon #staytuned 
 
SPD invest strong armed robbery at the Dollar General 13/N, susp fled in a gold Cadillac, near Naylor st...#staytuned

Cont...(Dollar General)victim/clerk received minor injuries, undisclosed amount of $ stolen #crimesolvers 410-548-1776

(Dollar General) surveillance footage will b reviewed/released once obtained from the store...#crimesolvers 410-548-1776 

TIGER JEALOUS? WOODS QUESTIONS ETHICS OF JORDAN SPEITH'S TRAINING REGIMEN

(ESPN) - Tiger Woods may forever be known as the world's best golfer, but recently he is becoming more and more infamous with the controversy that surrounds him. After the new #1 golfer Jordan Speith took home his third major at only 23 years old, instead of a congratulations Tiger Woods made headlines with his unruly comments. "Jordan isn't on the same playing field as us, don't get me wrong he's playing great golf, but he isn't doing it without help. There is no way his body can hit the ball like that normally, he's half my size."

Tiger was alluding to the notion that Jordan is too powerful for his size, but Jordan has been on a regimen lately that has help him put on 12 lbs of muscle in 8 weeks while cutting away some of his baby fat. Jordan commented to squash the controversy, "I will always respect Tiger for how he's changed the game, I've modeled my game and ruthlessness after him. But to say that I am a cheater is just crazy. Yes, I have been able to put on some muscle lately, and I will give that credit to my trainer and the great, legal products he has put me on. I've never seen my body change like this and I can see why he would think I am cheating the system." Jordan has been on a tear since starting his new program, he's got two straight victories including one major.

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Assaults against Border Patrol agents hits record high

New government data shows a record-high 671 Border Patrol agents have been assaulted this fiscal year while on the job.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 720 total assaults against its Border Patrol, Air and Marine Operations, and Office of Field Operations teams since Fiscal Year 2017 started Oct. 1, 2016. Last year, 585 total assaults against the agency's three branches were documented.

Border agents by far bore the brunt of the attacks.

The total number of assaults specifically against Border patrol is up 167 percent since the same period last year, when 403 assaults were reported. The current fiscal year ends in a few weeks, at the end of September.

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Queen Anne’s County Man lit himself ablaze

(Centreville, MD.) On 9/19/2017 at approximately 1:24 PM, the Maryland State Police Centreville Barrack responded to a reported car fire in the area of John Brown Road at Maryland Route 213 in Queen Anne’s County Maryland. While in route, numerous witnesses called and advised a male subject lit himself on fire at the scene. The incident involved Jamie Lee Richarts, a 35 year old, of Centreville and Deny Richard Coursey, a 42 year old, of Centreville. Initial contact was made with Richarts. Richarts stated that Deny Coursey, her boyfriend, pulled his vehicle in front of her vehicle causing Richarts to stop her vehicle. It is believed this incident is ongoing from a domestic incident the couple were engaged in the prior evening which was handled by the Queen Anne’s Sheriff’s office. When the vehicles were stopped, Coursey exited his vehicle and approached Richarts’ vehicle with a fuel can in his hand. After a short argument outside of Richarts’ vehicle, Coursey doused himself with fuel and lit himself on fire. Coursey quickly returned to his vehicle and left the area. Coursey was located as he walked into Easton Memorial Hospital with numerous burns. An emergency petition for an evaluation was filed on Coursey and the investigation continues. Coursey will be transferred to a burn center for treatment of his injuries.

Census Bureau: D.C. Suburbs Remain Nation’s Richest Counties

(CNSNews.com) - The three richest counties in the United States with populations of 65,000 or more, when measured by their 2016 median household incomes, were all suburbs of Washington, D.C., according to data released today by the Census Bureau.

Eight of the 20 wealthiest counties with populations of 65,000 or more were also suburbs of Washington, D.C.--as were 10 of the top 25.

Loudoun County, Va., with a median household income of $134,464, was nation’s wealthiest county, according to the Census Bureau.

Loudoun was also the wealthiest county in 2015. But from 2015 to 2016 its median household income increased by $8,564--rising from $125,900 to 134,464.

Howard County, Md., with a median household income of $120,941, was the nations’ second wealthiest county. Fairfax County, Va., with a median household income of $115,717, was the third wealthiest.

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WCSO Press Releases - Sept 19, 2017



Incident: Disorderly Conduct
Date of Incident: 18 September 2017
Location: Seminole Blvd, Salisbury, MD
Suspect: Carrie C Whitney, 37, Salisbury, MD
Narrative: On 09-18-17 at 910 pm, Deputies were dispatched to a residence on Seminole Blvd for an unknown disturbance. Upon arrival, the Deputies learned that a visitor to the house, Carrie Whitney, was yelling and arguing with the residents. Whitney was asked to leave. Whitney remained in the roadway near the house yelling and screaming. Whitney was asked to keep quiet multiple times by the Deputies. Whitney continued to disturb the neighborhood, and she was arrested.
Charges: Disorderly Conduct, Fail to Obey a Reasonable Order
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Incident: Driving While Intoxicated, Driving Under the Influence While Transporting a Minor.
Date of Incident: 18 September 2017
Location: Ocean Gtwy and White Lowe Rd, Hebron, MD
Suspect: Tara Rena Taylor, 39, Mardela Spring, MD
Narrative: On 09-18-17 at 215 PM, Deputies received the report of intoxicated driver who just left a county school. Deputies located the vehicle on Rt 50, and witnessed a traffic violation. Deputies found that the operator, Tara Taylor, had been drinking. Taylor failed field sobriety tests, and she was arrested for DUI.
Charges: Driving While Under the Influence, Driving Under the Influence While Transporting a Minor, other related traffic charges.

Police: Pregnant woman revived with Narcan overdoses again 40 minutes later

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania —A story out of the Philadelphia area is serving as a reminder of the devastation wrought by the opioid epidemic.

According to WPVI, two police officers were patrolling the Allegheny Station area in Kensington around 4 p.m. Monday.

A passerby alerted the officers to a pregnant female who was unconscious. They administered Narcan to the woman twice before she regained consciousness.

"At that time, the Philadelphia Fire Department came over to the location and she refused their services. She didn't want to go to the hospital. She didn't want any kind of medical treatment. She got up and left the area," SEPTA Police Lt. Michael Fox said.

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St. Louis Rioters Storm Mall, Chant ‘No Justice, No Profits’

Okay, so it doesn’t quite roll off the tongue like “no justice, no peace,” and sure it doesn’t actually make sense given that capitalism and the justice system aren’t linked in any meaningful way, but hey! It made for some great television, didn’t it?

A couple hundred angry people marched through West County Center shopping mall, forcing police to eventually close the building. They carried signs that said “Black & Brown Lives > White Comfort,” “Black Lives Matter,” “No More Racist Killer Cops,” and “White Silence is Violence.”

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BREAKING NEWS A powerful earthquake struck close to Mexico City, less than two weeks after a quake in southern Mexico killed dozens

A powerful earthquake struck Mexico on Tuesday afternoon, rattling the capital and sending people flooding into the streets for the second time in just two weeks.
The earthquake occurred shortly after 1 p.m. local time about 100 miles from Mexico City. It registered a magnitude of 7.1, and the proximity to the capital created heavy and prolonged shaking there.
Read More »

WCSO CID Press Release 9-19-17 (Industrial Accident at Landfill)


ACLU SEEKS IMMEDIATE HALT TO TRUMP'S TRANSGENDER SERVICE MEMBER BAN

BALTIMORE - The American Civil Liberties Union and the law firm Covington & Burling LLP today asked a judge to immediately halt to the Trump administration's ban on transgender individuals serving in the U.S. military while their lawsuit challenging the ban moves through the court system.
The motion for preliminary injunction was filed on behalf of the ACLU of Maryland and six current members of the armed forces who are transgender: Petty Officer First Class Brock Stone, Senior Airman John Doe, Airman First Class Seven Ero George, Petty Officer First Class Teagan Gilbert, Staff Sergeant Kate Cole, and Technical Sergeant Tommie Parker.

In the filing, the ACLU argues that a preliminary injunction is needed to ensure that irreparable harm is not done to military personnel and potential enlistees who are transgender while the case is resolved in the courts. The ACLU motion argues that the ban violates constitutional guarantees of equal protection and substantive due process as well as the statutory right to medical care that all service members enjoy.

"Men and women who are transgender should be allowed to serve their country rather than being exposed to this level of uncertainty and harm," said Josh Block, senior staff attorney with the ACLU's LGBT & HIV Project. "We're confident that the courts will eventually strike down this unconstitutional ban. So we're demanding a court order to prevent this shameful policy from ever being implemented."

Watch What Happens When Police Unmask Cowardly Antifa Protesters at Trump Rally In DC

If you didn’t know (or care), there was a Trump rally for his followers in which hundreds of people gathered in Washington, D.C. on the National Mall over the weekend. The rally had some people calling it the “mother of all rallies’ with somewhere around 3,000 supporters showing up.

Alright, I’m not going to indulge this. 3,000 is a lot of people – but nowhere near the title of “mother of all rallies”. Come on people. Like politics, love politics, or be utterly disgusted with both sides of politics, the truth is the truth. This was an opportunity for supporters of the President to flex their muscles, but whether the folks who voted for him just didn’t know the rally was going on, or they were fed up with Trump working with Schumer and Pelosi – They didn’t turn it into the “mother of all rallies”.

Where Trump supporters are rallying, you can be sure that the communist garbage called Antifa are sure to make their presence known. These clowns showed up in their black clothes with their faces covered, expecting to cause chaos because, well, what else do unemployed losers do with their time?

These worthless commies tried to start trouble, but where quickly and oddly silent when police enacted one command that completely showed the world just how cowardly and pathetic this group is – they made them take off their masks! That’s right. These ‘fighters’ who smash up private property and attack defenseless women where stopped dead in their tracks because they were too afraid to be violent if they could be identified. There’s your proof right there that these dirt bags don’t even believe in their own Marxist filth. It’s all just a sham, and an excuse to act like a bunch of animals.

My apologies to real animals everywhere.

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Maryland's 2016-2017 Kindergarten Readiness Assessment


Maryland's Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA) is a developmentally appropriate assessment tool administered to kindergarteners in the fall of each year that measures school readiness across four domains. Readiness levels are reported statewide and for each of Maryland's 24 jurisdictions.

Maryland's 2016-2017 KRA Data Show:

  • 43% of Maryland’s children entered kindergarten classrooms demonstrating the foundational knowledge, skills behaviors needed to fully participate in the kindergarten curriculum.
  • A significant number of Maryland's children (19%) display minimal foundational skills and behaviors and require substantial assistance and differentiated instruction, as well as targeted supports or interventions to be successful in kindergarten.
  • 12 of Maryland’s 24 jurisdictions meet or exceed the statewide average. 
  • A higher precentage of female kindergarteners (50%) demonstrate kindergarten readiness than males (36%).
  • More than half of Asian kindergarteners (50%), kindergarteners reporting two or more races (50%), and white kindergarteners (53%) demonstrate readiness.  African American children (37% demonstrate readiness) are within 6 points of the statewide average.
  • A lower percentage of Hispanic children demonstrate kindergarten readiness (27%) and achievement gaps exist in language & literacy (an 18-point gap) and mathematics (a 17-point gap). 
  • Maryland’s kindergarteners demonstrate readiness in four key domains: Language & Literacy (40%), Mathematics (38%), Social Foundations (53%), and Physical Well-being & Motor Development (55%).
  • Children from low-income families (32% demonstrate readiness), those learning the English language (21%), or those who have a disability (19%) exhibit lower readiness levels than Maryland kindergarteners as a whole.
  • 40% of children enrolled in public PreK programs the year prior to starting school demonstrate the foundational skills and behaviors essential for kindergarten success and are within 1 point of the statewide average.
EDITORS NOTE: Wicomico County and Washington County tied for second to last place.  Dorchester County is ranked in last place.

INCIDENT AT SOLID WASTE DIVISION

This morning we experienced an incident with an individual at our Solid Waste Division who was flown to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. An inmate performing landscaping duties appeared to have suffered severe burns and been electrocuted. At this time we have no further information on his condition. We are grateful for the inmate crew on site, the first responders and staff who assisted in a timely manner and avoided any additional potential injuries. Our thoughts and prayers are with he and his family.

FLASHBACK: Joe Albero Salisbury News 3.29.10 Sarah Foxwell

It starts at 2:00, two minutes into video.

Teen Wants A Tattoo? Pediatricians Say Here's How To Do It Safely

Ariana Marciano is adding to her collection of about 75 tattoos at the Body Electric Tattoo and Piercing Studio on trendy Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. "I think they're so cool and I think they're visually really nice to look at," she says. There's a ram's head, an elk, a green-and peach colored praying mantis, a love bug and a moth. Today she's getting a ladybug.

"I love bugs," Marciano, 23, says. "I think they're kind of overlooked." In about 20 minutes, with dots on its back and a bit of rusty orange, a small ladybug takes its place on her elbow.

Marciano is part of a trend; 38 percent of millennials have at least one tattoo,according to the Pew Research Center, and 23 percent have a piercing somewhere other than an earlobe. That compares to just 6 percent of boomers with tattoos, and 1 percent with other piercings.

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Would you allow your teen to get a tattoo? 

The Real Story Behind America's New $20 Trillion Debt

Late yesterday afternoon the federal government of the United States announced that the national debt had finally breached the inevitable $20 trillion mark.
This was a long time coming. It should have happened back in March, except that a new debt ceiling was put in place, freezing the national debt.

For the last six months it was essentially illegal for the government to increase the debt.

This is pretty brutal for Uncle Sam. The US government hasn’t run a budget surplus in two decades; they depend on debt in order to keep everything running.

And without the ability to ‘officially’ borrow money, they’ve basically spent the last six months ‘unofficially’ borrowing money by plundering federal pension funds and resorting to what the Treasury Department itself calls “extraordinary measures” to keep the government running.

Late last week the debt ceiling crisis came to a temporary armistice as the government agreed once again to temporarily suspend the debt limit.

Overnight, the national debt soared hundreds of billions of dollars as months of ‘unofficial’ borrowing made its way on to the official books.

The national debt is now $20.1 trillion. That’s larger than the size of the entire US economy.

You’d think this would be front page news with warnings being shouted from the rooftops of America.

Yet curiously the story has scarcely been covered.

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Are Some Cultures Better than Others?

WORLD'S GREEDIEST SOCIALIST: Sanders Owes A Disputed $450,000 To Cities Across The Country

Bernie Sanders, whose socialist agenda has no problem stealing Peter to pay Paul (or in his case, stealing from those with money to give to those who don’t), the same man who represents himself as the champion of the downtrodden, appears to be just fine not paying back the cities he visited in the 2016 campaign for the security services they provided him.

Across the nation, in the states of Arizona, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin, the Sanders campaign still owes a disputed $450,000 to various cities. Those figures include over $117,000 to the Santa Monica, California police department; $67,000 to the Irvine, California police department; over $44,000 to the Tucson, Arizona police department; over $33,000 to the Spokane, Washington police department; over $28,000 to the city of Vallejo, California; over $28,000 to the National City, California police department; over $25,000 to Upper Providence Township in Pennsylvania; over $23,000 to the Cloverdale, California police department, and over $22,000 to the Solano County Sheriff’s Office in Fairfield, California.

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Nolte: GOP Works Tirelessly to Help Illegal Aliens

In early 2010, after a bunch of procedural gimmicks, a rigged Congressional Budget Office report, and Barry’s Lie of the Year allowed Obamacare to become law, the Republican Party went on a righteous repeal crusade.

“Just give use the House of Representatives, and we will kill Obamacare,” they told us.

So, in 2010, after a record-setting midterm election, voters gave Republicans total control of the House.

And they accomplished exactly nothing.

“This is not our fault,” they whined. “We need to control the Senate to stop Obamacare.”

So, in 2014, after a second record-setting midterm election, voters gave Republicans total control of both the House and the Senate.

And they accomplished exactly nothing.

“Come on, guys; it is not our fault,” they mewled. “We need the Senate, the House, and the presidency to kill Obamacare.”

So, in 2016, after years of repeal promises, years of astounding electoral victories, years of raising gajillions of dollars off of this very issue, years of defining themselves by the promise to repeal Obamacare, the American voters took them at their word and handed the GOP total control of the federal government; House, Senate, and presidency.

Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell were now not only in a position to finally rid our country of the hideous failure that is Obamacare, there was no promise the GOP could not keep, no wish they could not scratch off their list. With total control of the government, Republicans could pretty much do as they damn well pleased.

And what did the GOP do with this once-in-a-generation opportunity?

More here

Police vehicle set on fire, 3 arrested at Georgia Tech during 'violent protests'

Three people were arrested and students were ordered to shelter in place at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta on Monday as violent protests erupted in response to the police shooting death of a student who allegedly had a knife, the university.

The protests broke out after a peaceful vigil for Georgia Tech student Scout Schultz, 21, who was fatally shot by police late Saturday night after he called 911 to report an armed and possibly intoxicated suspicious person, authorities said.

A police vehicle was set on fire, two officers suffered minor injuries and one officer was transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries during the "violent protests on campus," according to the university.

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Hackers Have Successfully Hidden Malware In PC Cleanup Tool

A computer program used to help your PC run faster has reportedly become the latest victim of hackers looking to breach the security of millions of its users.

CCleaner, the computer-optimizing tool made by software company Piriform, was successfully infected by malware, according to security firm Cisco Talos. The malware reportedly tried to connect to unregistered websites in order to remotely download even more harmful programs to users’ computers.

Security experts say the Trojan horse-style attack hackers launched affected over 2 million CCleaner customers who downloaded the product in August.

“Piriform believes that these users are safe now as its investigation indicates it was able to disarm the threat before it was able to do any harm,” an Avast spokesperson said.

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A Viewer Writes: Salisbury Downtown Meters

Did you know you must pay .50 in the Meters downtown. What a joke. They will get your money anyway they can.

This Weekend's Chicago "Shoot-a-Rahm-a" - 10 Dead, 30 Wounded, 500 Homicides Year-To-Date

Another weekend passes, celebrities slap each other on the back and bash Trump, students across the nation demand more statues come down, politicians promote various self-aggrandizing issues, and Chicago is a f##king bloodbath that no one seems to care about...
2017 Shoot-o-Rahm-a Tally: 10 killed, 30 wounded
2016 weekend tally: 6 killed, 38 wounded
2015 weekend tally: 10 killed, 47 wounded
2014 weekend tally: 6 killed, 31 wounded

Would You Know if Your State Was in a Recession?

Even as the U.S. experiences the third-longest economic expansion on record, state-level slowdowns have emerged, raising tough-to-answer questions about recession risks across the country.

Recent state downturns have centered on areas that rely heavily on energy production, though other states also have flirted with weakening growth or even seen their economies shrink. Analysts do not perceive the germs of a crisis that might infect the nation, but signs of economic slippage outside the energy patches or into new industries could signal the potential start of the next national downturn. The last recession officially started in December 2007 and ended in June 2009, but its impact has lingered for years.

Natural disasters of the magnitude of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma do not indicate an imminent recession, although historically it can take years for regions to return to pre-storm economic conditions. Moody’s Analytics and S&P Global Ratings analysts said their initial view is that Harvey may cause a dip in productivity in Texas in coming months but the demographics and economic strength of the region are likely to mute the impact. “Certainly this is going to hurt, it creates a fair amount of disruption, but at the end of the day, I think Houston's economy will quickly find its way back, and the region's economy will quickly find its way back. This is not Katrina,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.

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Hillary Had No Idea Why People Chanted ‘Lock Her Up’ During The Election

In a new interview, Hillary Clinton revealed that she had no idea why people chanted “lock her up” during the 2016 election.

Clinton told NPR that “the first time [I was] actually aware of hearing [Lock Her Up] was at the Republican convention. I think it went on before that. I didn’t pay a lot of attention to it. I thought, ‘OK, fine. He is whipping up his crowds. He is throwing them red meat, and I’m Exhibit A of that.'”

“But when they brought it inside to their convention, so that it became, in effect, part of the historic record of the general election, I was stunned,” She continued. “I thought, What are they talking about and why are they saying this?”

Clinton also added that it was “not only wrong — because obviously there was no basis for it — but it was politics at a very high level being affected by the most dangerous partisan hyperbole.”

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Kevin Kamenetz kicks off his gubernatorial campaign from Stuart, Iowa.

Stuart, Iowa is a small city located in Lincoln Township in Adair County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.58 square miles. As of 2017, the city’s population hovers at 1,589 residents.

Today, Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz announced he is running for governor of Maryland…. from Stuart, Iowa – at least that’s what his Facebook page says. Whether this is a staffing error or just a careless oversight, optics matter in gubernatorial rollouts.

Let’s face it: A staffer using County email to invite County employees to Kamenetz’s kickoff doesn’t look good, either. In fact, that particular mistake may cost Kamenetz and his campaign big in the future – as it should. Using County email for campaign purposes is a big no-no in politics. And it’s a completely avoidable mistake.

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President Trump gives an address to the 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Breaking News: President Trump, at the U.N., threatened to "totally destroy North Korea."

He called its leader a “rocket man” on a “suicide mission.”

Leaders from around the globe take the lectern at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. It’s a particularly big moment for President Trump, who addressed the world gathering for the first time.

A "Financial H-Bomb" Has Exploded

Somebody exploded an H-bomb last week, and it wasn’t North Korea. It was the U.S.

This was not a kinetic H-bomb, the kind that leaves a mushroom cloud.

It was a financial H-bomb.

Financial warfare has its weapons, tactics and commanders, the same as kinetic warfare. In financial warfare, the leading commander is the secretary of the Treasury. The weapons include account freezes, sanctions and financial blacklisting of certain individuals and companies.

The financial warfare equivalent of an H-bomb is a complete ban from the U.S. dollar payments system. The U.S. dollar represents 60% of global reserves, 80% of global payments and almost 100% of global oil sales. Cutting off any party from U.S. dollars is like cutting off the oxygen from a patient in intensive care. They won’t last long.

That is exactly what U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin threatened to do to China on Sept. 12. He threatened to cut off China’s access to the U.S. dollar payments system if China does not rigorously enforce new U.N. sanctions on North Korea as a means to deter North Korea from pursuing its nuclear weapons and missile development.

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Report: Paul Manafort Was Wiretapped by US Govt. Before and After Election

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was wiretapped by U.S. investigators under secret court orders — both before and after the election,CNN reported Monday night.

The government surveillance continued into early this year — a period during which Manafort spoke with President Donald Trump, according to the outlet.

The intelligence might have included communications Manafort allegedly encouraged Russians to help with the campaign, according to CNN, which cited three unnamed sources.

Trump has claimed former President Barack Obama had him wiretapped in Trump Tower, though the Justice Department asserted there was no evidence of that.

But the CNN report raises a question of whether his conversations with Manafort were picked up.

Two of the three sources told CNN the evidence is not conclusive.

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Obama Goes From WH to Wall Street in Less Than 1 Year

Hillary Clinton says she made a mistake when she gave speeches on Wall Street after leaving government. Taking money from banks, she writes in her new memoir, created the impression she was in their pocket.

Her old boss doesn't seem to share her concern.

Last month, just before her book "What Happened" was published, Barack Obama spoke in New York to clients of Northern Trust Corp. for about $400,000, a person familiar with his appearance said. Last week, he reminisced about the White House for Carlyle Group LP, one of the world's biggest private equity firms, according to two people who were there. Next week, he'll give a keynote speech at investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald LP's health-care conference.

Obama is coming to Wall Street less than a year after leaving the White House, following a path that's well trod and well paid. While he can't run for president, he continues to be an influential voice in a party torn between celebrating and vilifying corporate power. His new work with banks might suggest which side of the debate he'll be on and disappoint anyone expecting him to avoid a trap that snared Clinton. Or, as some of his executive friends see it, he's just a private citizen giving a few paid speeches to other successful people while writing his next book.

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SPD: September 19, 2017 Interactive Briefing

In Florida, You Can't Use Your Own Solar Panels In A Crisis

When it comes to the U.S. economy, the “con” part offers the best description of the current relationship between business, government and the preyed upon consumer.

The way things work in early 21st century America is large businesses bribe politicians in a variety of ways at both the local and federal level, and the end result is laws that are designed to increase corporate profits at the expense of the wellbeing and freedom of the American public. Politicians end up with financial war chests to run their next campaign, while bureaucrats see a lucrative opportunity to swing through the ever spinning revolving door should they play ball with lobbyists and their patrons. Yes, there’s always some degree of corruption within any society of humans, but there are peaks and valleys in such cycles. I’d argue we are somewhere in the peak corruption phase.

Today’s article focuses on one of the most highly regulated industries in the country, electric utilities. It’s one of the most boring businesses in America. I know this because it fell under the umbrella of my responsibilities during my last Wall Street job, and I could barely read a utilities research report without immediately falling asleep. Nevertheless, as you’ll see in today’s piece, the industry still finds a way to generate large profits while simultaneously harming the people its supposed to service.

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Another Murder In Salisbury?

Hey Joe, may not be a news story for your site, but terribly sad event last night. A 2 week old baby (!!) was beaten to death by someone, likely the father, admitted to the ER last night but was dead on arrival. Savagely beaten.

Publishers Notes: We have not confirmed this message from a viewer.

Maryland university board votes to raise salaries as much as $75,000 for three presidents

Presidents of three Maryland universities will receive raises of $75,000, $50,000 and $20,000 after a vote by the governing board of the state university system.

The Board of Regents voted Friday to award the three raises as recommended in a salary study by New York-based Sibson Consulting. The firm found Maryland’s university presidents were paid below their peers, with University of Maryland, College Park President Wallace Loh’s salary of $600,000 in the 43rd percentile. The board approved a $75,000 raise for Loh.

Representatives of faculty and students generally expressed support for the raises.

A.J. Pruitt, the president of the Student Government Association at the University of Maryland, College Park, said he believes Loh’s performance justifies a salary increase, although he would like to see resources spread elsewhere on campus as well.

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Editor's Note: "Salisbury University President Janet Dudley-Eshbach’s salary of about $385,000 will increase by $20,000."

Breaking: Pedophile Lobby Panics As Trump Expands Investigations / Arrests

Toys r Us may be inching closer to Bankruptcy

Toys ‘R’ Us Inc could file for bankruptcy in the coming weeks as pressure from skittish suppliers intensifies, the Wall Street Journal reported (paywall) on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The company and its restructuring advisers areconsidering filing for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond, Virginia, according to the WSJ report.

The privately-held toy retailer had previously said it was working with investment bank Lazard Ltd to help address its approximately $5 billion in debt, of which roughly $400 million comes due next year.

The potential Chapter 11 filing could be a result of the company’s suppliers tightening trade terms, including holding back on shipments unless the toy retailer is able to make cash payments on delivery, the newspaper reported.

Toys ‘R’ Us declined to comment on the report.

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Are We Witnessing the Death Spiral of Cable Television?

Cable television has long been the coveted propaganda arm used to program American sentiments. But because of the internet, viewer choice for news, sports, and entertainment has proliferated. Content is becoming decentralized, and that makes it harder to control the attitudes of the masses.

Since 2013, pay tv subscriptions have been declining, losing more customers than they gain. Over one million people per year are fleeing from paying for cable TV from companies like Verizon, Time Warner, and Comcast.

For three straight years, the viewership of the Emmy’s has declined. Yet while cable networks broadcast the award show, original Hulu and HBO shows were winning the awards.

You don’t need a cable subscription to watch shows on Netflix, HBO Now, or Hulu. While Netflix and Hulu run some cable shows, they also produce their own content. This doesn’t automatically mean the content won’t be akin to the typical propaganda on cable. But it does mean that control over programming is more decentralized. This includes the FCC’s slipping grip, as they have thus far failed to seriously regulate online programming.

Now consumers have a choice. Youtube offers even more choices which allow independent and much smaller content producers to disseminate their shows. Owned by Google, there is plenty to criticize when it comes to Youtube. They arbitrarily remove certain content that they don’t like. But this will just bolster alternatives like Vimeo and DailyMotion.

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CalPERS Slashes Pension Payments To Retirees In Two More California Towns By Up To 90%

While we've yet to experience any large municipal pension failures, which is just a matter of 'when' rather than 'if', the small pension failures sprinkled across the state of California are starting to pile up. As The Sacremento Bee points out today, public workers in Trinity and Imperial counties are just the latest to have their pensions slashed by up to 90% as their cities admit what most of us have known for some time, namely that they're running ponzi schemes which simply don't have the funding required to payout the benefits they've promised.

Trinity County Waterworks District No. 1 west of Redding and Niland Sanitary District from Imperial County are in line to become the third and fourth government agencies to break with CalPERS over the past 12 months in a manner that shortchanges their retirees.

The CalPERS Board of Administration is scheduled next week to vote on ending contracts with the two small districts because they’re in default.

In Trinity, five current and former employees will see their promised pensions slashed by 70 percent. Niland’s five beneficiaries will see a 92 percent to 100 percent cut in pension benefits, according to CalPERS’ staff reports.

To fully fund their workers’ pensions, the two districts would have to muster up hefty termination fees. CalPERS asks for that money up front, and then moves the separating agency to a low-risk fund called the terminated agency pool.

CalPERS says Niland owes about $200,000 to cover the long-term costs of its employees’ pensions in the terminated agency pool, while Trinity owes some $1.6 million. Trinity has asked CalPERS for a 30-year, no-interest payment plan to cover the termination fee, but the district and the pension fund have not reached a deal, according to CalPERS.

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Hillary Clinton May Challenge Legitimacy Of Presidential Election

The US presidential election took place nearly one year ago, but to Hillary Clinton it may as well never have ended.

In an interview with NPR, the former first lady said that "if Russian interference turned out to be deeper than previously thought" she wouldn’t rule out challenging its legitimacy or the outcome.

“No, I wouldn't rule it out,” she said.

Still, even the defeated Democratic nominee admitted that she does not "believe" there is a means to officially challenge the election’s outcome. "I don't know if there's any legal, constitutional way to do that," Clinton said.

“There are scholars, academics, who have arguments that it would be [possible], but I don’t think they’re on strong ground. But people are making those arguments. I just don’t think we have a mechanism,” Mrs. Clinton said. “I think you can raise questions."

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Berlin Fire Company Subject Of Second Harassment Lawsuit

BERLIN – A former paramedic has filed a $500,000 lawsuit alleging discrimination and harassment against the Berlin Fire Company.

Two years after an $8 million harassment case against the Berlin Fire Company (BFC) was settled, a second lawsuit has been initiated by Jeffrey Dean, a former BFC paramedic and firefighter.

The case, filed by attorney James Otway Sept. 12 in U.S. District Court, alleges that the fire company violated the protections put forth by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — which prohibits employers from discriminating against employees — and claims that Dean was a victim of harassment and retaliation for his support of Zack Tyndall, the former BFC member — now a Town of Berlin councilman —who filed the initial harassment case against the organization.

According to the 16-page lawsuit, Dean was hired by the fire company in 2005 and had a clean disciplinary record when he was assigned to work as Tyndall’s partner in 2011. BFC leaders reportedly told Dean “that Tyndall was reassigned to work with him because Tyndall had been complaining a lot and causing trouble and leadership wanted Dean to teach him to ‘keep his mouth shut.’”

The lawsuit states that though Dean had already witnessed incidents of harassment committed by several members of BFC leadership, during the ensuing months Tyndall told him about his own experiences.

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Convicted rapist throws a fit while being deported, report says

A convicted rapist from Africa threw a fit as he was being deported from the U.S. — telling federal agents that he “would rather die than go back to Togo” — during a violent confrontation at Dulles International Airport, a report says.

“I am not going back to Togo,” seethed Koffi Ameyapoh, 51, of Maryland.

“You will be shipping a dead body back to Togo,” he told the agents, according to court filings obtained by NBC Washington on Monday.

“I am going to make a commotion at the terminal, so the marshals can shoot me because I would rather die than go back to Togo.”

Ameyapoh, who was convicted in 2006 of rape and sexually abusing a child, had been scheduled to take a flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — en route to the African nation of Togo — as part of his removal from the country, NBC reports.

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http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/09/18/convicted-rapist-throws-fit-while-being-deported-report-says.html

Oklahoma manager says he tried to stop workplace beheading

A manager at an Oklahoma food processing plant testified Friday that he tried but failed to stop a beheading attack three years ago.

He attempted to stop his co-worker, who had been suspended earlier that day, from attacking another employee with a butcher knife by severing her head.

Gary Hazelrigg told jurors that the victim, Colleen Hufford, was 'completely surprised' when Alton Nolen came up behind her, pulled her head back and drew the knife across her throat.

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H2O Spoof Ocean City Police Video

The first video is from the OC Police. The second video is their spoof of the original.

Brown University will offer segregated student dinners for black, Muslim students

University will host dinners as part of ‘racial reconciliation’ program

To promote “racial reconciliation” after the deadly clashes between white nationalists and counterprotesters in Charlottesville last month, Brown University plans to offer segregated events to its black students and female Muslim students.

The university received a $30,000 grant from the Association of American Colleges and Universities, which represents liberal arts schools, to create a campus center whose mission is to “break down racial hierarchies and create a positive narrative about race in the community,” according to The Brown Daily Herald.

These grants, provided with the assistance of the Newman’s Own Foundation and W.K. Kellogg Foundation, will go towards hosting racially and religiously segregated “dinner discussion groups.” These discussions are being led by Brown University Chaplain Rev. Janet Cooper Nelson, who told The Daily that “one [group will be] for black students and the other [will be for] for Muslim women on campus.”

Nelson told The Daily she hopes that the Muslim women’s dinner group will “allow the women to engage in topics such as the intersection of race, Islam and gender fluidity.”

Nelson did not respond to The College Fix’s request for comment, nor did Brown’s media relations department.

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A Viewer Writes: Battle of the PD on information

Ever wonder why it is so hard to get information? Each PD web site, some better than others give information. Joe, why is it so damn difficult to find stuff. Some sites are nicely done others are not. Lets put it up for a vote, best worst PD sites to get information from?

http://www.cityofpocomoke.com/police.html

www.somersetfop135.com/minutes/

http://princessannepolice.com/

https://www.delmarpolice.com/

http://www.wicomicosheriff.com/

http://worcestercountysheriff.com/

http://www.town.berlin.ct.us/police/

http://www.somersetmd.us/agencies/scso.html

https://oceancitymd.gov/oc/departments/police/pocomoke

http://www.cambridgepd.org/159/Police-Department

http://www.salisbury.edu/police/

Perdue Commits Up To One Million Pounds Of Products To Support Hurricane Irma Relief in Florida

SALISBURY, MD. — For the second time this hurricane season, Perdue is committing up to one million pounds of product donations to support relief efforts, this time in Florida in the wake of devastating Hurricane Irma.

Perdue is working with Feeding America® to earmark food relief to local member food bank partners in Florida. Perdue will have the first of its relief trucks rolling into Florida this week. Perdue recently donated one million pounds of products to support Hurricane Harvey relief in Texas.
“As residents of Texas continue to recover from the effects of Hurricane Harvey, it’s heartbreaking to see the devastation now unleashed on so many in Florida by Irma,” said Steve Evans, president of Perdue Foods. “Through are long-standing partnership with Feeding America, we are able to work with them to stage products in their food banks to ensure our donation will be targeted where it’s needed most. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by these historic storms.”

“Feeding America is thankful for Perdue’s continued contribution of important protein,” said Bill Thomas, chief supply chain officer at Feeding America®. “These donations will help Florida families as they return to their homes and begin rebuilding their lives.”

While Perdue will continue to look for ways to assist those impacted, associates within the company are also stepping up to help. In Chesapeake, Va., Lewiston, N.C., and Salisbury, Md., associates collected essential items for Harvey victims in partnership with local relief efforts coordinated through Texas City First Assembly Church near hard-hit Galveston and Houston. Associates in Cromwell, Ky., also collected supplies and partnered with First United Bank in Beaver Dam, Ky., to get those donations to Texas.